by Band on the Run 69 Replies latest jw friends
Send a card to the boys.
Curb your personal AGENDAS and CAUSES about the WTS. They don't care about that right now. They just lost their Dad.
Just tell Travis and Ty how much you cared for Eric or were helped/touched by him.
How old are they (approximately)? Pre-teens, teens, adults (presumably adults, since you said they're OUT)?
How old are they (approximately)? Pre-teens, teens, adults (presumably adults, since you said they're OUT)?
They are early 20's.
Here is the address for Eric's business that he owned.
His sons names are Travis and Ty. The boys were both OUT, so they would probably appreciate the cards.
If cards are in their names, I'm sure there will be employees of Eric's that will pass them on to the boys.
1208 East Mountain St.
Kernersville, NC
27284
Thanks, Palm Tree!! [Palmtree's post #6416, page #2]
I imagine it would make quite an impression on them - and the JW community, even though the sons are "out" - if they received a large volume of cards stating how much Eric - I only knew him as "Oompa" - meant to all of us.
I miss him.
When a human life ends tragically,
we are reminded that we are all part of the one human family,
and that we could take a moment to be kinder to the living we come into contact with,
regardless of our or their particular pursuasion...
What if we honoured Oompa's (and Eric's) life and family by daily acts of unmerited kindness...
oompa, i wish i couldve known you.
oh, what they did to you. i have no words.
rest in peace brother.
btt
I didn't know Oompa very well even based on correspondence, but I sure recognized his avatar when he posted something - and I recognized his characteristic zingers.
Oompa signed on with that picture of Marty Feldman playing Igor in the film "Young Frankenstein", which in the avatar hierarchy of things must really be up there. It ought to be like a revered numbered jersey hoisted up over a basketball court or stadium entryway.
...And it often brought me back to contemplate the film.
If there ever was a Frankenstein castle overshadowing a tormented village, it was the Frankenstein castle that was very much on Oompa's mind to the very end. I know how that is, and I never was even part of it. It just dragged people back to it from a time before I even met them and they look back at me like "I was the dealbreaker..." in a very big deal indeed. Confronted with utter nonsense, I simply couldn't fake a sign up to save my skin at Armageddon. I have know better idea how the afterlife is going to go, but I know how the rest of our natural lives are...
Sometimes this is funny; other times it is emphatically not.
Another line from that film - which was not elicited from Igor, the servant with the shifting hump, but one of the officials of the village down below the castle.
"A riot is an ugly thing.... And it's about time we had one."
This is a very uncharacteristic notion of WT society and former friends. But judging from what happened with Oompa, there must be better ways to channel anger. I am writing on a medium of 11,000 index pages in which people have exchanged for over a decade there accounts of what the organization has done, how they have been deceived, bullied into submission and separated from their loved ones and families. Yet still, I sense that so many leave in the back of their mind that there is something redemptive in the WatchTower society, the society built by Russell, Rutherford, Knorr, Franz and the present governing board. Their entire mulched rain forests of scriptural commentaries; their system of accomodating elders...
There is nothing to be redeemed in this structure. In fact, I think it is quite the opposite. A satisfying notion is, have I done anything today that would stand in its way? Have I prevented someone who was foolish enough to open his door to knockers not to be hoodwinked? Have I let my non JW neighbors know what I have suffered?
It's not a riot, but something to be done in Oompa's memory. And any effective action, I hope he can observe and find more peace in it.
Sending tons of flowers to his old KH might result in them being thrown out, but just think about what a powerful VIDEO that would make...If someone could capture that on video and post it with an explanation of what is going on, the witnesses could be publicly shown for what they are. Unloving and uncaring about people...Just a thought.
Just an FYI for those interested, re dear Oompa's obit and memorial:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/239281/1/Message-from-Oompas-Family-re-Obit-and-Memorial
Peace to you!
A slave of Christ,
SA
